Digitalisation

The government's massive digitisation push has transformed India's Public Distribution System (PDS), setting new benchmarks for food security programs globally, the Union Food Ministry said on Wednesday. The overhaul of the system, which serves 80.6 crore beneficiaries, has led to the removal of 5.8 crore fake ration cards through Aadhaar-based authentication and electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) verification, it said in a statement. "These efforts have resulted in substantial reductions in leakages and enhanced targeting," the ministry added. According to the ministry, nearly all 20.4 crore ration cards have been digitised, with 99.8 per cent linked to Aadhaar and 98.7 per cent beneficiaries' credentials verified through biometric authentication. The ministry has deployed 5.33 lakh e-PoS devices across fair price shops nationwide, enabling Aadhaar-based authentication during distribution and ensuring the rightful targeting of beneficiaries. "Today Aadhaar authentication is use

Deloitte's Income Tax Digitalisation in India survey found a strong push for the use of real-time data, e-wallets, APIs, and emerging technologies like AI and blockchain in the I-T department

Pension Parishad and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) said that 'digital exclusion' is impacting lakhs of pensioners across India, especially in Rajasthan. In a press conference on Tuesday, the MKSS said that pensioners from Rajasthan who were receiving a monthly pension between Rs 500-750, have not received any money for the past two years. This is particularly concerning since the pension amount was increased to Rs 1,000. The Pension Parishad shared testimonies from affected pensioners, including the elderly, disabled, and widowed individuals who have been denied their pensions due to various administrative and digital barriers, a statement stated. "Issues mentioned included wrongful death declarations, data mismatches, biometric authentication failures, and challenges in obtaining Aadhar IDs," it read. Nikhil Dey of Pension Parishad and MKSS, highlighted the compounded marginalisation faced by pensioners on account of their age, disability, or other vulnerabilities, describ

As it seeks to build out deposits, the bank is also planning to add branches in areas where it has no presence, according to Setty

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has lauded India's use of digitalisation that has helped achieve financial inclusion and poverty reduction, underlining that this gives the country a comparative advantage and its lessons can be shared with the global community. Let me say first of all that since I've been to India, every time I think of India, I think Incredible India'. And I mean this in all earnest .And I saw it when I was there. The specific example to which I can refer is India's use of digitalisation, Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, told PTI in an exclusive interview here. He referred to the country's tourism tagline of 'Incredible India.' Francis was in India from January 22-26 this year on an official visit, during which he held a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi and also travelled to Jaipur and Mumbai. During the visit, his interactions with government officials, civil society members a

The Indian government is seeking more advice and strategic direction on sustainability, ESG goal, decarbonisation efforts across supply chain in almost all industries

'Large and small banks have started investing heavily in tech and are focusing on scaling their digital business throwing up opportunities for enterprise fintech firms'

With crowdsourcing of campaign and relief contributions through micropayments, the digitalisation of Indian democracy has added another dimension

Nabard Chairman Shaji K V on Wednesday said the government aims to computerise about 65,000 cooperative societies by March 2024 in order to improve transparency and efficiency of such cooperatives. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has been designated as project manager for computerisation of cooperative societies under the guidance and directions of the National Level Monitoring and Implementation Committee and Ministry of Cooperation. "Close to 10,000 cooperative societies have already been digitised. We are targeting 65,000 societies to be digitised by March 2024," he said at a conference organised by Sa Dhan. Observing that cooperatives have created lot of inefficiencies over the years, he said, "we are trying to clean up by improving transparency and making them important value chain players through computerisation of these entities." Nabard is also building a data warehouse for cooperatives and the rural sector, he said, adding, it should be in

The government is set to launch 'U-WIN' portal, designed on the lines of COVID-19 vaccine management system Co-WIN, for maintaining an electronic registry of routine immunisations. The U-WIN programme has been designed to digitise the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and it is presently being run in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. U-WIN, which will replicate Co-WIN, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts across the country. Vaccination records under UIP are being maintained manually as of now. So this will do away with the hassle of keeping a physical record. It will enable the digitisation of session planning, and updating vaccination status on a real-time basis, an official said. Presently, multiple vaccines and dos

The partnership aims to accelerate ONDC and identity & data services through a centre of excellence

Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad on Monday said banks need to focus on digitalisation and keep a vigil on stressed loans. Bank should also undertake financial literacy and financial inclusion activities, he said after inaugurating the zonal office of ESAF Small Finance Bank here. Karad said banks should do timely recognition of non-performing assets and make adequate provisions so that the banking system remains healthy. Emphasising on use of technology, he said, it is the future and there is need to promote digital banking. Speaking on the occasion, ESAF Small Finance Bank managing director K Paul Thomas said the bank has special focus on agriculture sector. The bank signed an agreement with Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited for providing crop insurance. The bank, which has nearly 600 branches spread across 21 states, recorded over four-fold jump in net profit to Rs 302.33 crore for the year ended March 31, 2023. The bank earned a profit of Rs 54.73 cr

Observing that technology has increasingly enmeshed with the systems of dispute resolution, the Supreme Court has directed district courts to digitise all records of criminal trials and civil suits. A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and Sanjay Karol noted that the E-committee of the Supreme Court had issued an SOP for digital preservation on September 24, 2021. The top court said a robust system of responsibility and accountability must be developed and fostered in order to ensure the proper protection and regular updation of all records facilitating the smooth functioning of the judicial process. "Technology has, in the present time become increasingly enmeshed with the systems of dispute resolution and adjudication with the trends pointing to all the more interplay, both supplementary and complimentary between technology and law. "The Registrar General of the high courts shall ensure that in all cases of criminal trial, as well as civil suits, the digitisation of records must be

The use of e-wallets for MF investments was allowed in 2017 to promote digitisation

The year is emerging as India's techade, with robust opportunities in creating public digital infrastructure, and greater ease of doing business

Women doing better in digital awareness among reasons for government to expand technology in policies

Rising prices of data and devices are a concern for the rapid proliferation of digitisation, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday. The comments have come against the backdrop of a recent hike of about 57 per cent in the minimum monthly recharge plan by the country's second-largest telco Bharti Airtel. "Rise in cost of data or cost of devices are of concern because they are impediments in rapid digitisation," Chandrasekhar said. The minister said that he is not exactly aware of the hike in mobile services rates by Airtel and the ministry may approach telecom regulator Trai to examine if the hike is going to have a short-term or long-term impact. He said that there has been an impact on prices across the world due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the impact of data price need to be examined. Bharti Airtel has increased the price of its minimum recharge for the 28-day mobile phone service plan by about 57 per cent to Rs 155 in eight circles, ..

E-inspection will also allow the person to store the file in PDF format once the court approves the application for viewing

Airports across the world have started using biometrics to create automated lanes for immigration clearance at airports

The minister also said that there is no risk of data theft in digitisation of medical records of Indian citizens